LEAGUE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS JOS, NIGERIA

Friday, August 27, 2010

FEEDING FAT ON THE SWEAT OF OUR POOR WIDOWS: A SAD TALE FROM THE MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT

FEEDING FAT ON THE SWEAT OF OUR POOR AND HELPLESS WIDOWS: A SAD TALE FROM THE MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT

A little over a week ago, a widow who sweeps around the secretariat junction died and the women in their zone, after doing their daily sweeping core took permission to go and attend the burial. A week later, the women now reported to receive their monthly salary, only to be told that three hundred Naira (N300.00) will be deducted from their monthly eight thousand naira (N8000.00) pay for abstention from work each day. The women in unison rejected the cut and decided they have had enough. They refused to be intimidated. The matter became a matter of public discourse and the women stood their ground. On Tuesday 3rd August 2010 they were called to collect their full pay.

The above scenario is a reflection of the crisis state of development our widows are subjected to through out the 17 Local government areas of Plateau state by a few hands that are saddled with the responsibility of paying widows in the state.

When the Plateau State government introduced measures to keep the city clean and its quest to give a lifeline to the underprivileged, that single act drew a lot of applause from the people of the state. People that were engaged from the on set of that initiative started the work with every zeal and determination and discharged their duties to the admiration of the populace.

Supervisors in the field are required as a matter of priority to ensure that they put in the names of absentees every month so that the money would not be shared amongst a few people. In all the local government areas where this policy is implemented, the people doing the payments are feeding fat on the sweat of widows. The system in the ministry of environment must be the only one where poor widows are made to sign for N8000.00 on the vouchers and are paid less. In some cases when the widows are absent on pay day, they are made to forfeit the entire pay for the month. No account is given of how much is deducted. It is shared by a few people who are feeding fat on the lapse in the system.

The Plateau state government introduced this policy to address the problem of poor sanitation in the state and their contribution has gone a long way in improving the face of the state. The purpose was also to ameliorate the suffering of these widows. It is therefore shocking that this well thought

policy has become a means of self enrichment for a few who are feeding fat on the sweat of the widows.

This issue needs to be looked into with a view to punishing the culprits. The three ministries, the ministry of environment, finance and local government should do something about it immediately. All right conscience people must condemn this outright fraud by these few selfish people bent on destroying this noble ideal.

We in the League condemn this shameful act intoto and call on the relevant officers to act so as to save the face of the situation.